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Alessandro Nivola

Actor

This grandson of acclaimed Italian sculptor Constantino Nivola began his acting career while still an undergraduate at Yale, landing the plum leading role in a Seattle production of Athol Fugard's "Master Harold. .. and ... Read more »

This grandson of acclaimed Italian sculptor Constantino Nivola began his acting career while still an undergraduate at Yale, landing the plum leading role in a Seattle production of Athol Fugard's "Master Harold. .. and the Boys". After college, Alessandro Nivola became a rising stage star thanks to his work in regional theater and his 1995 Broadway debut as the young lover of Helen Mirren in "A Month in the Country". Inevitably, film and television roles were offered; the handsome, light-haired actor appeared in the 1996 NBC miniseries "Danielle Steel's 'The Ring'" and landed his first film role as Joanna Going's preppy husband in "Inventing the Abbotts" before landing his breakthrough part as Nicolas Cage's paranoid schizophrenic brother in John Woo's "Face/Off" (both 1997). Nivola adopted a flawless British accent to play a mystery man from Rachel Weisz's past in "I Want You" (1998), directed by Michael Winterbottom. The chameleonic actor continued to add to his gallery of characters appearing in the thriller "Best Laid Plans" and again as an Englishman in Patricia Rozema's screen version of yet another Jane Austen novel "Mansfield Park" (both 1999).

As a teenager, worked as an intern at Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT

Early professional role, Seattle production of "Master Harold...and the Boys"; landed part while still a student at Yale

"I spent my life trying to hide the fact I went to prep school and to Yale, but people still like to cast me as a WASPy twit." – Nivola quoted in Interview, June 1997

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On working with Nicolas Cage in "Face/Off," Nivola told USA TODAY (June 27, 1997): "Our personalities matched well. We both had a weird appreciation for bizarre things. Before, I'd been a lot more timid. Working with Nic made me feel like everything was possible."

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"Early on in New York, because of my name, I was constantly being called in to audition for roles as bricklayers. And after 'Face/Off,' people knew me as this strange fellow I played. My agents would submit my name and people would say 'Well, isn't he – I mean, he's like Rain Man!' I went through a period where I had to meet everyone in town, look them in the eye and show them that I am a functional human being. Now, though, I think people can alter that first impression." – Nivola quoted in The New York Times, Sept. 13, 1998